


Staring at the Sun

by DJRezYourGays



Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Goddammit Erend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-04
Updated: 2017-11-04
Packaged: 2019-01-29 09:22:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12627888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DJRezYourGays/pseuds/DJRezYourGays
Summary: Aloy tries to pick out a proper present to give to Vanasha, only to be ambushed by the object of her affection.MicroWriMo 2017Prompt: Compliment





	Staring at the Sun

There had been no shortage of challenges in Aloy’s life, especially lately, what with her mysterious new ally Sylens, the fragile peace in Meridian and the looming threat of Hades. Yet somehow none of that seemed to hold a candle to the decision facing her this morning.

“What about this one?” she asked, pointing to the stalker lens shimmering on the sunlit rock. The overridden Watcher companion she’d nicknamed 'Blinky' stared at the lens for a moment before looking back at her, just as blank and silent as before.

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Aloy shifted to a sitting position, looking at the other two treasures on her short list. The second was a bright bracelet, a trinket of the Old Ones that shone silver and gold. Aloy picked it up, feeling the smooth metal between her fingers, contemplating the strange images on its face and wondering what they meant. 

“I don’t know,” she sighed, setting the bracelet down. “It’s not like she needs any of this, really. But what do you get for someone so…so…” Blinky tilted its head curiously, the front plates over his aperture shifting upwards into an oddly human expression. “…resourceful?” Aloy offered, not wanting to say any of the first dozen words that came to mind. 

She sighed again and leaned her head in her hands, feeling the heat radiating off her cheeks. This was so ridiculous. She had taken on leagues of Shadow Carja, toppled a corrupted Behemoth, and even challenged Erend to a drinking contest. This was nothing.

And yet every time she tried to think about how to even approach this challenge, her mind became a great, useless soup full of fluttery thoughts and second guesses. It was beginning to feel more than a little hopeless. 

Just as she picked up the last trinket, Blinky’s light shifted from blue to yellow and the watcher perked up, scanning something over Aloy’s shoulder. She’d been so lost in her deliberation she hadn’t heard anyone approaching. She was close to Meridian, so bandits weren’t much of a worry, but her hand instinctively reached for her spear all the same. 

Vanasha chuckled, stopping short and holding up her hands in a halfhearted gesture of surrender. “Whoa there, little huntress. It’s just me.”

Aloy’s pulse only quickened. Vanasha was dressed in yet another new outfit - how she made them seem so effortless, Aloy would never know - and it did an alarmingly good job of drawing attention to the woman’s well-toned midsection.

Scrambling awkwardly to her feet, Aloy remembered too late to try and laugh off her own reaction. “Sorry. I’m still getting used to having a safe place where I don’t have to be so…” Vanasha smiled, and Aloy lost whatever words she’d carefully gathered to finish that sentence. Instead she gestured vaguely at the spear, looking to Blinky as if the machine might somehow help her out. It only tilted its head in puzzlement.

“I understand,” Vanasha said, circling around Aloy to greet Blinky, rubbing the underside of what passed for its chin. Blinky chittered eagerly, its light blinking back to a soft blue again instantly.

Aloy’s mind seized the momentary distraction to draw her attention back to the row of prizes she had laid out specifically to pick the best one to give to Vanasha. She hadn’t even gotten around to figuring out a pretense for the present yet, she certainly wasn’t ready to field any questions about the items if Vanasha happened to notice them. And Vanasha noticed everything.

“So, uh, what are you doing here?” she asked, taking a broad step closer to the woman to plant herself squarely between Vanasha and the collection of shiny trinkets. 

“Well,” Vanasha purred, still doting on the watcher, “I was going to see if you were up for lunch by the lake, but then a little birdie told me that some Shadow Carja scouts had been spotted sniffing around Brightmarket, so I thought I’d ask if you were up for joining me to investigate.” She stood up to her full height and finally turned her attention to Aloy with a look that made the Nora realize just how closely they were now standing. “And then maybe lunch after.”

She smiled again and all Aloy’s carefully crafted responses ran into one another in one great jumbled mess. “Sounds fun,” she managed at last.

Vanasha narrowed her eyes, her smile no less bright as it shifted to the fox-like grin Aloy had come to associate with the spymaster picking up on the scent of secrets in her midst. She glanced down at Aloy’s hands, where Aloy was terrified to realize she was still holding the shining ring she had been considering among the other trinkets. Panicked, she immediately hid it behind her back.

Vanasha laughed, stepping even closer to try and peek over Aloy’s shoulder. “What have you got there, little huntress?”

“Nothing!” Aloy stammered, twisting about to try and keep her hands hidden behind her back. Vanasha was so close it was intoxicating, leaving Aloy caught between wanting to flee and wanting to rush headlong into the promise of danger.

“All right,” Vanasha conceded, leaning back and holding up her hands again in a sign of surrender. “I won’t press.” She glanced down to spy the other trinkets on the ground, and Aloy could see her instantly connecting the dots. “A gift for that special someone?”

“Sort…sort of.” Aloy felt the heat roaring to her cheeks. No doubt by now her face matched her hair, something Vanasha had teased her about more than once.

“Need any advice?”

Aloy froze, meeting Vanasha’s eyes. The panic and worry over her feelings being discovered was suddenly replaced with a mixture of curiosity and worry. Vanasha’s voice had taken a sudden turn, its playful brightness tinged by something like loss. Vanasha, for just a moment, sounded wounded. Aloy just couldn’t put her finger on exactly why.

Grateful for the excuse, she finally revealed the ring in her hands. It was marred and colored by years atop the ruins of the Old Ones, but the damage only lent an added beauty to what was once a simple silver ring. 

“I, uh,” she stammered, slowly finding new strength in Vanasha’s sudden lack of confidence. “I know someone. And she’s…amazing. Clever. Funny. Beautiful, like…like nothing I’ve ever seen.”

“And you’ve seen a lot,” Vanasha mused, unable to take her eyes off the ring. That sad tinge to her voice remained despite her efforts to hide it. Suddenly Aloy felt much more like a hunter again.

“Yeah, but…nothing like her. I wanted to get her something, something that showed her how amazing I thought she was. But she’s already so resourceful. What do you get for the woman who can get anything?”

Vanasha looked up suddenly, searching Aloy’s eyes for meaning her words had teased at. “Well,” Vanasha said, her eyes not leaving the Nora’s, “if she can get anything, then you need to get her something…priceless.” 

She took a step closer, cupping her hand under Aloy’s and raising it up to examine the ring without taking it. Her touch was rougher than Aloy had been expecting, and she seemed to be spending more time inspecting Aloy’s hands than the ring in question. “Like what?” Aloy finally managed, her tongue tripping all over the words. 

“Something…strong,” Vanasha replied, “colorful, perhaps a little sharp, and certainly one of a kind. Something that makes the Sun a little jealous it’s so far away. Something no one else can have.” Her eyes met Aloy’s again as they drew even closer. “Something like…you.”

“Like me?” Aloy repeated, her eyes darting to Vanasha’s lips for just a moment, feeling her own part in anticipation.

“Is that too much to give?” Vanasha asked, tracing her fingers along Aloy’s palm.

“For her?” Aloy answered, feeling draw into the kiss like she were falling off a high mountain. “Nothing is too much.”

“Hey Vanasha!” Erend called, clanking his way down the hill from the bridge in his Oseram armor. “We goin’ or what?”

Aloy and Vanasha sighed, letting go the breath they’d both been holding. Vanasha turned to Erend with a look that stopped the man cold in his tracks. Aloy just chuckled, reaching down to pick up her spear. “Yeah,” she said. “We’re coming.”

Vanasha sighed again, staring at their hands still interwoven around the ring. Aloy smiled, leaning in to dart a quick kiss before the urge completely left her. The look of surprise on Vanasha’s face filled her with laughter as she started off after Erend with Blinky not far behind. “Come on!” she called. “I don’t want to be late for our lunch date!”

Vanasha reached up to touch her cheek, watching the little Nora practically skip her way toward the bridge. Her smile returned in force as she hurried after her, the two of them turning it into a race on their way to Brightmarket, leaving a very confused Erend in the dust along the way.


End file.
